Locomotive stoker



June 16, 1925. 1,542,344

w. T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed April 28. 1920 5 sheets-sheet 1 33M@Mor/Man June 16, 1925.

w. T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed April 28, 1920 5 Seets-Sheet 2 r;@uvam tor, f ZM OMNIA:

June 16, 1925. 1,542,344

w. T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed April 28. 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 5vwentor Sgn, @b W June 16, 1925.

W. T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed April 28 1920 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 @Wowm June 16, 1925.

1,542,344 w. T. HANNA LOCOMOTIVE STOKER Filed April 28 1920 5Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented June 16, 1925'.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM T. HANNA, OF CIN'CDNATI, OHIO.

LOCOM'OTIVE STOKER.

Application tiled April 28, 1920. Serial Fo. 377,836.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, WILLIAM T. HANNA,

a citizen of the United States of America,l

and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State ofOhio, have invented a new. and useful Improvement in Locomotive Stokers,of which the following is a specification.

An object of my invention is to provide a Stoker, in which the fuel isto be placed manually at the furnace opening and within the furnacedoor, and is to be thence automatically-carried and distributeduniformly over the bed of coals by blasts of steamor of air.

Another object of my invention is a means for synchronizing the movementof the furnace door, and of the blasts of steam or air.

These and other objects are attained by the means described in thespecification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFig. 1 is front elevation of a locomotive Stoker embodying my invention.

, Fig. 2 is a view online 2 2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a sectional viewI taken upon line 3-3 of ig. 2 s

Fig. 4, is a detail sectional view of the engine for lactuating thedoors and taken upon line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5, is a vertical sectional view taken upon line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6, is a front elevation of a modified form 'of my invention.

Fig. 7, is a lan view of the arts shown in Fig. 6, the otted linesshowin thev relative position of the parts when t e door is o n.

pFig. 8 is an elevation showing a modiiied form of stoker embodying myinvention.

Fig. 9 is a side elevation of the device, viewed from the left, as shownin Fig. 1.

My invention is intended to be ap lied particularly to locomotives ofthe switc en 'ne t e, and consists broadly of an ejector whic is locatedupon the lower wall of the fuel feed opening a, a blast controllingvalve B, by means of which blasts of fluid under pressure are admittedto the ejector A, means for opening the furnace doors D, D', and leversfor actuating the blast controlling valve, which are connected. to the'means for actuating the .furnace doors,

whereby when the furnace doors are o ned blasts of iiuid under ressureare simu taneously released from e ejector.

In the referred embodiment of my invention I ocate a distributor plate aupon the lower wall of the furnace door opening a. This distributorplatea may be of the form of the distributor plate C which isillustrated in. my United States Letters i Patent No. 979,849. Theejector which is illustrated is of the steam ejector type and consistsof a housing having an u per steam chamber a and a lower steam c ambera, from each of which radiate a series of nozzles at, a. This housinghas journal arms a, a", which are journalled upon the ends of steampipes b, b, respectively, which are connected by suitable piping withthe ends of coupling b2, which is connected to the housing of the blastcontrolling valve B. In this piping are located regulating valves b3, b,respectively, by means of which the amount of fluid admitted to thepipes b, b', respectively, may be regulated so that the pressure in theupper chamber a may be made as much greater than the pressure in thechamber a3 as may be desired, so as to get a stronger blast of steamfrom the upper set of nozzles a* than from the lower set of nozzles a5.The degree of pressure in the respective pipings is shown by theindicators b", b of a gaugewhioh isconnected by pipes b1, b with therespective pipings leading to the pipes b, b. V

Ejector A is journalled upon the arms a and a1 in order that it may bethrown about its pivotal mountings on arms a and a to an inoperativeosition in front of the firing opening a, ang in the bottom of the doorframe E, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. In this osition it iscovered by the hinged plate e wliich is mounted upon pivots e', e2 inthe sides of the door frame E, as shown in Fig. 3. In the operativeposition of the ejector the plate e rests' upon it as shown in full linein Fig. 2.

I will now describe the referred means for actuating the furnace diiors,simultaneously with the release of steam from the ejector, as shown inFigs. 1 and 7.

The furnace doors D, D are mounted upon pivots d, d', which project fromthe walls of the furnace. The upper ends of the doors are provided withgear segments d', d, which intermesh so that movement of one dooreffects a movement of the other door. Movement of door D is eiected byan en- -ne D by the following well known means.

e piston d* of the engine is pivotally connected to door D by means of alink d. The pivotal mounting d of the link d on the door D is disposedabove the pivot (l supporting door D. Reciprocation of' the piston d* inits cylinder is controlled by a sliding valve di. which has a way dwhich may put the port d of the cylinder imo communication either withthe exhaust d" or with the admission du. Slide valve alT is connected bya link d with the foot lever D2. by ineans of which the slide valve al7may be positioned to bring way d* into communication with the fluidunder pressure. A spring r/li" returnsl the slide valve Il7 to norinalposition, putting the wa v into coniinunication with thc exhaust 11'"when thc pressure on the foot lever l): is released. Link dl2 isconnected by a series of' links F with the valve stent B of the blastcontrolling valve B.

In operation when it is desired to place fresh fuel upon the coal. thestoker depresscs the foot lever D2. This simultaneously opens thefurnace doors by means of the link d, depressing the slide valve d andplacing the interior of the cylinder in communication with the fiuidunder pressure from the pipe (.11, and rotating the valve B thru theseries of links F to admit steam to the pipes 1;, b', thence to thechambers a?, a3 and to the ejector`s nozzles a", a5 to distribute thefuel over the bed of coals.

The upper and lower blasts are arranged so that in operation. when coalis fed in any suitable manner to the front edge of the blast casing orejector, the finer coal falls into the channels and is discharged as itcomes within the range of the blasts from the lower nozzles. These lowernozzles are generally discharging at a lower pressure` The larger lumpsof coal ride down the ridges and as they drop from the ends thereof.come into the range of the upper blasts, which are essentially ofgreater pressure. Thus by applying a .comparatively powerful blast Atothe coarse coal. or lumps, and a comparatively weak blast to the finercoal or dust, a proper mingling and distribution of coal in the fire boxis obtainable. This arrangement also precludes the finer coal and-dustto be blown up into the flue, thus saving a great portion of that fuel.

In Figs. 6 and 7 there is illustrated a modified form of door D3 whichis provided with the usual handle d for manual operation. Mounted uponone of the hinges of the door is a shaft (115 on which is mounted an armdl connected by means of a link d with a valve lever bw which is securedupon the valve stem of a blast controlling valve B2. which is locatedupon the coupling b2 in the same position that the valve B is located.in the form illustrated in Fig. 1. In the operation of this device theopening of the door Ds rotates the shaft d about the pivot of the doorand imparts a rotation to the valve stem of the valve B2 to open thevalve to admit steam to the steam ejector A.. The closing of the door D3closes the valve B2 and shuts off the supply of steam to the ejector.

In Fig. 8 I have shown my invention combined with a locomotive Stokerwhich is supplied with a means for automatically feeding fuel from alocomotive tender to a distributing plate such as the plate a'.Experience demonstrates that the part of an automatic stoker which ismost apt to get out of order, is the automatic means for feeding thefuel from the tender to the fire door opening. By combining my inventionwith this automatic stoker, I have supplied means whereby mysemi-automatic stoker may readily be substituted for the alitomaticstoker. in case of such breakdowns.

Referring to Fig. 8. G lillustrates a feed tube for directing fuel intothe housing E which surrounds the fire door opening. whence the fuel isdistributed by gravity 'upon the distributer plate a. The means forfeeding the fuel to the feed tube G and of carrying it to thedistributing plate a form no part of the present invention and may besuch as illustrated in my pending application Serial Number 308.851.,and in my Patent No. 1.445.275.

In stokers of this type` steam is fed continuously to the blast chamber.such as the chamber a2. a". To provide means for supplying a continuousblastof steam. I place a by-pass H in the steam admission pipe. to carrysteam around valve B. and place in the b v-pass a valve h b v means ofwhich steam may be cut off from the by-pass, when the valve B2 is openedto admit steam thru the valve B.

In operation to put the automatic Stoker into commission, the valve B2is closed and the valve k is opened. thus steam is admitted continuouslyto the blast chamber so that the automatic stoker is operated in theusual way.

Should the automatic stoker get out of commission` because of somederangement in the automatic fuel feeder. the valve Bz is opened and thevalve Ii is closed. Then the operation of the semi-automatic Stoker isthe same as that heretofore described.

What I claim is 1. In combination with a furnace havin a 4fuel feedopening. an ejector located at the fuel feed opening, a furnace dooradapted to open and close the fuel feed opening` means forsimultaneously operating the door and admittin Huid to the ejector,means for directin uel in front of the ejector, and a regulated meanscompris- .ing a by-pass for admitting a constant flow of Huid to theejector.

2. In a locomotive stoker the combination of a furnace having a firinopening, an ejector in the bottom of the ring opening, a fuel shelf infront of the ejector, a fuel conduit adapted to direct fuel to the fuelshelf, a door for the firing opening, a pi for conveying fluid underpressure to t e ejector, a valve in the pipe, means for simultaneouslyopening the door and the valve, and a controllable means for directingiiuid under pressure to the ejector independently of the valve.

3. In a stoker mechanism the combination of a furnace havi a firingopening, a pivotally mounted p ate adjacent the firing opening, apivotally mounted ejector a apte to assume an operative position suchthat fuel delivered to the plate may be directed to the ejector, and aninoperative position wherein the plate precludes access of fuel to theejector, a door for the firing opening, means for conveying fluid underpressure to the ejector, a valve controlling4 the ow of fluid throu hthe fluid conveying means, and an aditional means for simultaneousloperating the door, and controlling the ow of Huid through the iiuidconveying means.

4. In a Stoker mechanism the combination of a furnace having a firingopening, a door for said opening, a fuel shelf within the opening, afuel conduit adapted to direct fuel to the fuel shelf, an ejector adated to direct blasts of steam across said elf, a steam supply pi econnected to said ejector, a regulatingva ve, a by-pass in the supply iand around the regulating valve, a valse in the by-pass, and means forsimultailieously operating the door and regulating v ve. 4

5. In a mechanical stolzer the combination of a furnace having' a fuelfeed o nin a casing surroundin the fuel feedpdpenng, an ejector for finiunder pressure pivoted to the casing and adaplted to be swu operativeposition wit in the fuel fee opening or to an inoperative position inthe casing, and a plate for directing the fuel to the ejector when in anoperative position,'and for covering and protecting the ejector fromfuel when in an ino rative osition.

l6. In a mechanica stoker t e combination of a furnace havin a fuel feedo ening, an ejector located wit in the fuel eed opening, means forsupplyin .fluid under pressure to the ejector -for eeding fuel to thefurnace, a control valve for said means, doors adapted to open and closethe fuel feed opening, an engine adapted to actuate the doors, anoperating lever, and links connecting the operating lever with thecontrol valve and with the engine for the doors.

7. In a locomotive Stoker the combination of a furnace having a fuelfeed o ning, an ejector casingl having two sets o chambers provided witdischarge openings for uid under pressure, a pipe leading to one of thechambers and forming one of the jour-y nals for theejector casin asecond pipe leading to the other cham r and forming a second ijournalfor the ejector casing, whereby the ejector may be moved to and fromoperative positions, and pipes for fluid under pressure adjacent to `thefuel feed opening and connected to the respective journals of theejector casing.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 21st day ofApril,

WILLIAM T. HANNA.

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